Braiding-machine.



N0. 875,190 PATENTED DEC. 31, 1907.

A. LE BLANC..

BRAIDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED umso. 190e.

4 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

No. 875,190. PATENTED DEG. 3l, 1907. A. LE BLANC.

BRAIDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. zo. 190e.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

No. 875,190. PATENTED DEC.31, 1907.

A A. LE BLANC.

BRAIDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20. 1906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

ALEXIS LE BLANC, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

naarmate-MACHINE.'

No. ateneo.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

atented Dec. 31, 1907i Application filed January 20, 1906. Serial No. 296.933.

To all whom Lt may concern:

Be 'it known that I, ALEXIS LE BLANC, a citizen of the United States, residing in Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Braiding-Machines, of which the following is a speciiication.

The present invention relates to improvements in braiding machines, and more particularly to such machines wherein the threads from one set of bobbins are caused to orbitally rotate in a reverse direction to the threads from another set of bobbins, and these to alternately occupy elevated and depressed positions whereby the threads may. pass and be braided together. An object 4of the invention is to provide means whereby eachA set of bobbins may travel. in a regular circular orbit and the threads from the bobbins of one set be raised and lowered to alternately pass over and under the bobbins and the threads from the other set oi bobbins.

In the drawings accompanying `and iorming a part of this specification', Figure ll represents a vertical central section lof a practicable embodiment of a forni oi my invention. Fig. 2 illustrates in perspective an arm and its bracket for raisingI and lowering the 'thread from one of the bobbins. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device illustrated in Fig. l, a portion of the gear-track plate being broken away. Fig. 4 shows in perspective one ot' the carriers for the upper-set ot' bobbins. Fig. 5 illustrates in perspeptive one of thc rotary devices for forwarding' the bob bin carriers. Fig. is a sideelevation of the device shown in Fig. 1,"the1parts being'in substantially the s ame position; and Fig. is a .liagranmatic representation of various positions oi' the lower bobbin thread, the bobbin carrier forwarding device the bobbin carriers, and the bobbin carriage, which diagrani will be described in detail in the i'ollowing description oi' the machine and its operation, l

The mechanism herein illustrated e1nbodies a base portion designated by 2U,

.which in the presentl instance is shown as having van integral arni 2i which curves up over the various mechanismv and at its center portion. carries a tubular guide 22, which may carry at its lower end an anti-friction which flange forms a flange 32 vand surround mesh with al collar 350 on the sleeve 3() and having a hub eye 23, which will in the present embodiment be the braiding point-oi' the machine. This, as many of the other details of construction, may of course be altered as occasion may demand without departing from the scope of my invention. The frame is shown as carrying a pair oi' journal bearings 24 in which is mounted the driving shaft 25, which is shown as carrying a pair oi' fast and loose pulleys 26, 27 1 The driving shaft is shown as carry ing a bevel pinion 28 which meshes at its lower side with a bevel gear 29 fast upon a sleeve 30, which sleeve is journaled upon a stationary opstanding spindle 31, which spindle is shown as hollow and as having a flange portion 32 bolted to the base 20 and bearing upon which the portion 29() of the gear wheel 29 is stepped, a suitable ring 33 may be carried by the the portion 290 of the geanwheel for retaining lubricant.

The upper portion of the ,pinion 28 is in evel gear 35 supported by a 36 which surrounds the sleeve 30, and to a iiange 360 oiwhich hubis bolted a framework construction, which in the present description will be called a bobbin carriage since it supports both sets of bobbins, carrying with it one set and guiding and sustaining.

the weight of the other set, it comprising a" plate 37 having upwardly projecting side portions 38 which are recessed, as at '39, at given intervals to. atord passages for the threads where these are raised and lowered. Depending from the bobbin carriage are shown a number of brackets 40 for carrying the lower bobbins, designated herein by 4l, the carrying means being some'suitable con- .trivance, as for instanceY a spindle 42 and some means, asior instance a cotter pin to hol-:l the bobbin from running ofi the spindle, the bracket may also have an arm 43 pro* vided with a suitable thread guiding aperture through which the thread maybe passed. Upon. the bobbin carriage the up )er bobbins are carried by some suitable bobnn carriers, see more particularly Fig. 4, 'wherein 'there is shown a body portion 45 havingl a channel 4G in its lower portion and a downwardly prof iev-ting 'flange 47, which rlange is received in-a eway 42% and the channel 45 receives a i 1t were, 49 of the bobbin carriageq.

(ill

Segmental pl`ates 450 engage the u per faces I ofthe shaft 82 is ii ion 88 which 1s 1n mesh with a bevel gear of the body portion 45f and hold t carriers to theirtrack or guideway.

The bobbin carrier is shown as provided with a pair of arms 50 having suitable recesses 51 for receiving the spindle 52 of an upper bobbin. Each carrier 1s also provided with a tension arm 53, it having some antifriction eye as 54 through which the thread will pass after passing through-some suitable tension device as 55. The employment herein in connection with the bobbins and the e bobbin threads delivered therefrom of the terms upper" and lower is arbitrary, and such terms are adopted for convenience of description only, they being suggested by the relative positions of the sets of bobbins in the present illustration. The present illustration also arbitrarily shows eight upper bobbins and eight lower bobbins.

The frame of the machine is shown as carrying a cam device 60, it being supported upon a bracket 61 at one sideof the machine frame and ,by a suitable upright 62. The

cam frame 1s shown as of la shelving disposition and havlng a cam Ofroove or runway 1n 1t embodying upper and )lower faces 63, 64 respectively in which the runway follows a sinuous path embodying a' number of upwardly and a number of downwardly projectingcam faces, in the main constituting eight u ward faces and eight downward faces; t at is so that the roll. 7() upon the thread carrying arm 71 pivoted to a bracket 72 suitably secured to the bobbin carrier and rotating therewith will, whentraversing the runway, make eight elevations and eightdescents during its traverse of this groove and during each rotation of the bobbin carriage will make eight elevations and eight descents 'thus passing the thread which it controls between the u )per bobbin carriers sixteen times.' The thread is shown as passing from the thread guide of the arm 43 through a tension device 73 and guides 74, 75, the latter guide being a hole bored through the pivot of the arm 71 vand from thence through an eye *76, whichmay be provided with some antifriction device.

, The sleeve 30 has fast with it a spider 80 carrying a number of rotary bobbin carrier forwarding devices 81., see more particularly Fig. 5, each of which comprises a shaft portion 82 supported by bearings 83 in the spider, and are shown as Ahaving cup shaped carrier forwarding ends 84 each of these in the present instance having a cylindrical rim or edge 85 for engaging grooves S6 in the contiguous ends of the bobbin carriers, seeniore articularly Figs. 3 and Each of these orwarding devices has a 'by-pass for the thread in the present instance the cup shaped end has ,a segmental opening-87 for the passage of the thread through it the other end will be provided with a bevelV pin- `reversed orbit by the forwarding devices,

such devices do not in the present illustra-.

tion bear the weight of the bobbin carriers with the exception of steadyin these. In some instances the connection etween the carriers and the carriage may be loose enough to give free movement involving a minimum of friction. l

In starting the operation the threads from all the bobbins may be brought indiscriminately to the braiding point. The contour of the camv track between the faces 63, 64 is such -that all the arms'71 will rise and fall in unison, and their rising and 'falling will'be so timed to the rotation of the members 84 that they will pass through the segmental opening'87 and thus be enabled to alternately pass' over and'under the upper set of bobbins and bobbin threads, thereby braiding their threads together. i

By referring more particularly to-Fig. 4 it seen that the slots 86, the walls of which constitute the forwarder faces, are transversely disposed to l the portion of the carrier which lies between the `plates 45 andthe track forming edge of the member 38, and that these forwarder en aging faces have portions disposed in the p ane of the track and by this means the forwarders will exert their influence or pressure in a line or path coincident to the path in which these forwarders engage the track,` and b this Ameans there willlae| no crampingor bind5f ing of the carriers upon the track. The forengaging' warders or drivers, designated in a' general way by 81, are so constituted that they will engage the front' and back ends respectively of adjacent carriers and at vcertain intervals open segments-87 will be so presented that the thread may be passed through such segment of the forwarder and between the carriers. And this opening of a cut away or by'-l pass between the carriers permits the thread to be passed through suci by-pass, that is,

between the carriers and through the opening in the forwarder at the time thatthe thread is being given its fastest movement,

for it must be remembered that the levers being vibratory must come to a complete rest at-each end of their stroke and that the intermediate portion df the movement will consequently be the fastest, and it is durin this fast threadmovement that the thread is passed through this by-pass.

In thediagram Fig. 7 the arrow a indica-tes the direction of movement of the bobbin cara riage, and the arrow b indicates the direction of movement of spider 8O and. of the upper set of bobbins. In such diagram the thread is designated by 100 and is the thread drawn from one of the lower bobbins, the other parts, so far as they need tobe designated by reference characters are designated by the refei'ence characters which these parts have in the other figures of the drawings. The positions indicated by the reference characters 1 to 5 inclusive are those successively assumed by the parts in moving what might be called half a pitch distance, that is half` of the angular movement necessary to bring one of the bobbins to the position which was at the inauguration of its movement occupied by the preceding bobbin, in the present instance there being eight bobbins their centers will be substantially forty-five degrees apart, and the amount of movement from the positions 1 to 5 will represent a movement of one bobbin and of one of the forward- -ing devices 84 throufh an angular distance of twenty-two and a ialf degrees, being one sixteenth part-of a circle. 4In the irst position the thread 100 at the left hand side is assumed to be going down into the opening 87 of the forwarding device and into the passage 39 in the bobbin carriage framework. In position the thread has passed out of such opening 87 and is moving with the bobbin carriage, and also down futher into the passave 39. In the position illustrated in the third position the thread-is at the lowermost portion of its downward movement, and as indicated by'i'the arrow adjacent thereto is about to rise. In the fourth position it has commenced to rise and is at such position that the next step in advance will reseat it in the opening 87, the thread in the movement from the iirst to the fifth position havin(r passed under one of the upper bobbins, and the thread passing from such bobbiii to the braiding point. The thread will successively assume the position relativelyr to the bobbin carriage and the passage 39 repre-V sented in the sixth to the ninth position,

which ninth position the saine as the first position. From the line A-B to the line E may be assumed to be what is above referred to as a pitch distance or the distance of oneeighth of a rotation, and to the line C-I) as half a pitch distance. rlhe space between the lines --B and E has been divided o'h' for. convenience/into eight equal portions, and the various relative phsitions of the thread, the forw--"ding device and 'thebobbin carriage are iilustra yed in positions `five and. ten to thirteen inclusive, representing the positions occupied diirin the time the bobbin carriage travels from t ie line A to the first line lto the right thereof. The angular advance of the forwarding devi@ 84 from theposition five to the position thirteen will be about three degrees. The threads are .crossed sixteen times to each rotation of the bobbin carriage.

It will be seenthat each of the bobbin carriers is engaged at each end by the flange 85 during more than half of the tiin-e, and that each carrier is always engaged by one of these forwarding devices; sometimes it is' being pushed and pulled at the same time, and

sometimes it is being pushed, and sometimes it is being pulled. When one forwarding device is to release its hold on one ofthe bobbiny carriers the forwarding device sat the other end of suoli carrier has obtainedia secure hold and the release and rengagement is carried on without affecting the steady advance of the b'obbin carriers.

It will be seen that the .cam device or structure 60 embodies in the present form of construction two members 600 and 601, these being rigidly connected in the presentinstance by integral strap members 602 which are cast on one of the members 600 and 601. These strap members are shown as bowing outwardly to clear the rolls 7() in their passage around the cam member. It has been found that in rapidlyyrunning the machine it is necessary to have the cam face 63 for positively returning the arms to their lower position after they have been raised, since to relyl upon spring means for returning the arms the rolls will jump from one cam elevation to the next and will not get to the bottom of the drop face. y ASuch improper movement if permitted would not only prevent the proper braiding and passing of the threads; but would also at times break the arms.

Having described my invention I claim:-

1. In a braiding machine, the combination with a rotary bobbin carriage, means fast ytherewith for supporting and orbitally moving a series of bobbiiis, said carriage having a` bobbin carrier track, a series' of bobbincarriers supportedly mounted upon said track, each of said carriers having two sets of forwarder engaging faces, a series of forwarders each for engaging a set of said faces on two adjacent carriers, and having a by-pass for threads, means for actuating said forwarders for opening the by-pass between the carriers at predetermined intervals, and means for passing the threads of on'eI series of bobbins through said by-passes when opened.

2. ln a braiding machine, the combination with a rotary bobbiii carriage, means fast therewith for supporting and orbitally moving a series ol' bobbins, said carriage having a bobbixi carrier track, a series of bobbin carriers supportedly mounted upon said track,

each of said carriers having two sets of forwarderengaging faces, a seriesloforwarders each 'for engaging a set of said faces on two adjacent carriers and having .a' lay-pass iftr warderengaging faces, a series'of forwarders j eo nately in opposite directions.

nately bringing the threads from the resfpec- .I .bobbins, f" drlver engaging faces, a ser1 es of'rotary orthreads, means for actuating said forwarders for opening the by-pass between the carriers at predetermined'intervals, vibrator arms and means for movin these with acee erated speedv between the ead centers in proper timing for passing the threads from one series of bobbins through said by-pass at the accelerated portion of its movement for altertive series of bobbins at the outer side o the threads of the other series, and passing the threads through said .by-pass at its accelerated movement.

. 3. In a braiding machine, the combination with a rotary bobbin carriage,l means fast therewith for supporting andorbitally movins, said carriage having a ing a series of bob bobbin carrler track, a series of bobbin carrierssupportedly mounted upon said track,

each of said carriers having two sets of foreach for engaging a 'set of said. faces on two adjacent v'carriers and comprising a rotary member having a recess constituting a thread. by-pass, means for revolving said forward- 'ers, for revolving the carriers, means for rotating the/ forwarders 'l for opening the bypass between the carriers, and means for' assing the threads from one series of bobbins through said by-pass when opened alter- 4. In a braiding machine, the combination with means for orbitally moving a series of me'ans for supporting carriers for a second series of bobbins, each carrier having y; VVVbitally movable lbobbin carrier drivers each lembodying an annular member for engaging 5 said driver engaging faces. on .adjacent carand moving the threadup during the up-v "wa'rdmovement of said open segments.-

atits endswith driver engagin 'vibratory arms revoluble with the first/series opensegments of the drivers upwardly and downwardly respectively, the arms moving.

the thread ldown durin the period of the downward. movement lo .the open segments 5. vIn a braiding machine,'the combination With .a rotary bobbin carriage embod ing means for orbitali moving 'a series of fiebbins, a series of bobbin'carriers supported on said carriage for carrying Aa second series of bobbi'ns, a rotary spider concentrica-lly disposed relative to said'carriage, means for rotating said carriage and spider inopposite directions, each of said carriers bein provided aces, a series ofshalft's mounted upon sai spider, each carrying at one end a bevel pinion and at its opposite end an annular member for engaging lsaid driven engaging faces on the adjacent -the first series of bobbins, a cam frame disposed adjacent to said arms and having a pair of cam faces for engaging said arms for positively raising and lowerin these for passing the threads guided there stationary gear track for said pinions.

6. In a braiding machine, the combination with a framework embodying an annular fiange, said framework constituting a bobbin carriage and it having meansfor supporting and carrying a series .of bobbins, and said flange being provided with a recess to accommodate the raising and lowering of the threads from said bobbins, aseries of arms pivoted, to said fiange and each having guiding means, said arms being for raising and lowering said bobbin threads through said fiange passages, said fiange being provided with a guideway, a series of bobbin carriers for a second series of bobbins supported on said guideway and each of these provided at its ends with driver engaging faces, a spider disposed concentric to said carriage, means .for rotating'the spider and carriage 1n opposite directions, a series of shafts radially supported by said spider and each of these proy through theopen segments of the carrier drivers, and a vided with a pinion, a stationarily disposed gear track for said pinions, each of said shafts carrying an annular flange for engaging said driver engaging faces and adapted for engaging the `faces o n the adjacent ends of two of the carriers, each of said flanges having an open segment, a stationarilydlsposed flange member surrounding said carriage and having a sinuous runway, rolls carried by said pivoted-arms for traversing saidrunway, the timing of the movement of the opengsegvments of said drivers at the passages 1n the flange of the carriage`and the disposition of the sinuosities of said track being such that at each time the arms pass the threads downwardly the open segments will pass downwardly, and each time the .arms pass the thread upwardly the segments will pass npwardly, the segments at such time being presented at the open passages in the flange of the carriage.

7. Ina braiding machine, the combination with a track, of a series of bobbin carriers mounted for orbital movement on the track and each having forwarder engagin slots at each end disposed 'transversely of ie plane of engagement with said track, forwarders' Vals, and means for passing the threads l0 Jfor engaging said aces,' means for orbitaliy through said passageways at such intervals. moving said forwarders for applying forward Signed at 9-15 Murray street, New York, noyemen to said 1carrier? sind exertingkthelir N. Y., this 18th day of January, 1906.

cree in t e sai ane 0 t ie said trac t e v w v forwarders beingpprovided with threadv pas' ALEXIS LE ,BLAN sage interruptions. in their engaging faces,` Witnesses: v means for actuating these for Operating a FRED. J. DOLE, thread passageway at predetermined inter# CHAs. LYON RUSSELL. 

